Puppy Paws
by TjRythum
Summary: Worried after Kakashi gets sick and doesn't call them for help, Pakkun and the Pack launch an investigation. Birthday fic for The-Lady-Smaell!


**HHHHAAAAAPPPYYYY BBIIRRTTHDDAAYYY SMAELL!**

**Yes, this is a birthday fic for the marvellous The-Lady-Smaell, who is one of the most wonderful and supremely awesome people in the world (she's right up there on the list with my Mother and Julie Andrews!)**

**So dear Smaell, this is for you on your special day, in hopes it makes you smile.**

…**.**

_Poof_

The air filled with grey smoke, curling slowly upward as it cleared. Pakkun glanced around leisurely before reaching his chakra out to the rest of the pack who quickly followed after him. The room filling the faint 'pops' and more smoke as the other seven dogs mineralized behind him.

Pakkun scanned around the small living room, searching for signs of his master as he moved to the kitchen.

The past week Kakashi had been on an undercover mission in Mist and the moronic brat – as usual – had refused to wear the standard water proof gear. He never did, the excuses had ranged from 'it's too big' when he was a kid to the current 'it's too small' 'it inches' 'it rustles and will give me away'.

Pakkun had to admit the last one was pretty good by the brat's standards but still, the lengths the pup went to getting hurt or sick. At least it could be said, despite the lazy bastard act, Kakashi never slacked off when it came to destroying his physical heath on a mission.

The pack had left him a few days ago, able to smell the oncoming fever on their masters body as they returned to their own plane to care for themselves and prepare for the call they knew was coming. It always happened, Kakashi would get sick, or rip himself open (by accident of course) then refuse to go to the hospital. Calling in his pack to care for him instead because everyone knows dogs are wonderful nurses and can totally do things like make soup and pour medicine without the use of opposable thumbs.

Still, despite this 'small' over looked fact (one that was pointedly ignored by the so-called 'genius' whenever it was brought to his attention) the pack had learnt how to cope over the years. In fact they prided themselves in the skills not even an Inuzuka mutt could develop.

(The fact that an Inuzuka mutt didn't have masters stupid enough for these skills to be necessary was, also, ignored)

But it had been three days since the mission and the pack had received no sickly distress call from Kakashi. In fact this had been happening a lot the past four months. Kakashi would get hurt, send them off to their plane then no call for help would be sent. They wouldn't see him again till the next mission and there he would be, perfectly fine and healed.

It was pissing them off.

If the idiot was finally going to the hospital, fine, good even, but he could have had the decency to tell them so they wouldn't be worried out of their minds when no call came. Images of their white haired pup, sprawled on the floor, to sick and hurt to call them was not something they enjoyed.

So they were taking things into their own paws. No call had come? Fine, they would come regardless, find out just what was going on.

"Kakashi?"

Pakkun padded softly through the living room toward the kitchen, calling out his bosses name gently as he did.

The little house was very quiet, too quiet. Kakashi was never quiet when sick; he had nightmares, or was just loud while being an annoyance, not taking medicine or food.

"Pakkun…"

Glancing back the pug gave Guruko a questioning look, one that was returned with uncomfortable shifting.

"The carpet"

Puppy brow raised Pakkun looked down at the soft blue flooring under his paws. It looked fine to him.

"What about it?"

"It's clean"

The whole pack started at that and six noses hit the floor while Guruko and Pakkun watched.

"He's right!"

A deep rumble of agreement came from Bull before Uhei sneezed.

"In fact it – it smells, fresh! Like cleaner!"

The pack was shocked at this information – Kakashi…_Kakashi_ had, had…._cleaned?- _ Pakkun hurried to the kitchen.

Bursting through the half open doorway he stopped dead at the ghastly wrong sight. The kitchen too – was clean. No, clean was an understatement. The place was sterile, it was downright scary.

"Hey Pakkun-"

Once again Pakkun turned to face the pack, tilting his head at Shiba who was sniffing the air.

"What's that scent? The one clinging to the air – it's not food or cleaner…"

Pulling in a deep breath Pakkun instantly noticed what Shiba was talking about. There was a new scent in the house, it was light, clean and warm with faint touches of oil, paper, sandalwood and something that reminded Pakkun of the air after a rain – but, it was still raining outside.

"It- it smells like...like a person" Bisuke's nose crinkled as he breathed in "And they smell nice. Do you think they're the one that cleaned?"

_A person?_

Pakkun's brow farrowed as he sniffed again. It didn't smell like the loud pup or the pink bitch, nor was it the Hokage or any of Kakashi's ANBU friends. So who had been in Kakashi's house and – more importantly – why?

"Pak, the pups in bed"

Pulling away from his thoughts Pakkun totted over to Uhei and peered into Kakashi's bedroom, relived to see she was right. Kakashi was snuggled up under three layers of blankets, sleeping soundly. Signs of fever were a round the pale face but the Jounin seemed to be over the worst and was well on the way to recovering.

Without their help.

That stung a little. So Kakashi had taken care of himself? No, that wasn't right, the pup could take care of others but not himself. Someone had been here, cleaned, nursed the brat, _cooked_ for him and obviously had been doing so for the past few months.

The freaking brat would have some explaining to do when he woke up.

In fact, he was going to wake up now.

With a low growl Pakken started across the bedroom with every intention toward jumping on the bastard sleeping peacefully in the bed. Fuck the fact he was sick, the moronic pup had made them _worried_ and he must pay.

The jungle of a key fumbling in the lock had the pug freezing and returning to the main room while the whole pack turned toward the door with wide eyes. All eight dogs were held enthrall as they watched the plain gold door knob jiggle slightly before turning. A soft click was heard as the door opened and swung forward.

A dark figure stumbled into the small entry; they were slightly hunched under the burden of two lumpy looking mounds. The person toed their shoes off after kicking the door shut and flicked the light on with their elbow before they looked up and froze. Dark brown eyes mildly surprised as they took in the sight of eight gleaming dog eyes staring right back.

"Oh" the young man shifted two balanced grocery bags in his arm slightly as he smiled down at the pack. "Hello Pakkun-san, what are you all doing here?"

Pakkun stared at the Chuunin with wide eyes, still trying to figure out just what was going on "Iruka-sensei? Why are _you _here?"

The sensei frowned "Why am I here? Why wouldn't I be here?"

That answer wasn't very helpful. Pakkun blinked again before tilting his head to side, pieces slowly falling into place "You're the one who's been taking care of the pup?"

Iruka smiled softly "Yes"

"Why?"

"Why?" Iruka a small laugh as he headed to the kitchen with his bags "Because I'm dating him"

Half the dogs fell over at that while the others (Bisuke, Bull, Uhei and Guruko) leapt up delighted.

"D-Dating?"

"That means mate? Right?"

"Mate?"

"Kakashi found a mate?"

"_Kakashi_ got a _mate?"_

"Kaka's mate!"

Iruka glanced around that the muttering pack, a bemused look on the scarred face "I'm guess he _didn't _actually tell you that, did he?"

Eight furry heads waved back and forth in answer. Iruka sighed, muttering 'idiot" to himself before he moved to the kitchen and started unpacking the groceries. The dogs glanced at each other for a moment then scrambled after him, tails wagging as fast as they would go.

They all knew Iruka, not by person but name. Pakkun and Bisuke were the only ones to have ever met the little sensei before but all the dogs knew Naruto and if there was one thing Naruto liked talking about -aside from the usual rants of beating Sasuke or becoming the Hokage – it was his brunet big brother.

From this the pack knew that Iruka was kind, gentle and smart, with enough patience's and temper to deal with a hyper Naruto while still being wild enough to be someone the blond could love. He was also calm, dependable and a hard worker.

Which brought up the question – why the fuck was he with _Kakashi._

Pakkun's head tilted to the side, contemplating this as he watched the pack swarm around the young man, showering him with questions and curious licks. All of which Iruka took in stride, then again, he was a teacher, 'puppy' actions were something he could deal with.

Shiba, Uhei and Bisuke had already clawed their way up onto the counter and were now examining the young sensei. Well, Shiba was examining him while Uhei seemed to be trying to read his mind with her eyes while Bisuke, as usual, was being a suck up. Giving embarrassing puppyish whimpers to try and get scratches which Iruka was giving without much need for prompting.

Urushi and Akino were standing off to the side, a silent conversation going on between the two more serious dogs as they quietly judged the worthiness of their master's mate – Pakkun roll his eyes at that one - Iruka wasn't the problem here – while Guruko was still trying in vain to crawl onto the counter top and get to the food.

Bull on the other hand seemed to have already fallen in love. The huge dog's sense of smell was the best in the pack, even though Kakashi still usually summoned Pakkun or Bisuke for a tracking jobs as they were less daunting then the bear-sized bulldog. It seemed though that Bull had decided Iruka was perfect and had plastered himself to Iruka's side, impeding the young man quite a bit as he tried to put away the food before Guruko could get on the counter.

"So-"having finished his task and started on making tea Iruka glanced back at the eight dogs scattered around the small kitchen "Uh, I know I already asked but, why are you here?"

"We came to check on Kaka"

"We could smell the fever and were waiting-"

"But he never called so-"

"We decided to check ourselves, but-"

"The place was too clean for Kakashi and we-"

"Could smell you. You Kakashi's mate now?"

Iruka blinked at Bisuke and Guruko who stared happily back while the rest of the pack facepawed at the duos annoying habit.

"Uh, I – think so?" there was a hint of laughter in the soft voice as Iruka smiled at the two dogs "But what do you mean waiting for a call?"

Pakkun sighed and moved forward before the duo could open their mouths again. "They mean we always patch the brat up after missions"

"He hates hospitals" Shiba supplied helpfully as the rest of the pack nodded.

Iruka chuckled "Well I knew that. The idiot passed out on my porch a few months ago and I decided to stop him from bleeding all over my marigolds"

The pack glanced at each other then burst out laughing. The image was too easy and too real.

Iruka grinned at the reaction before frowning, a pervious line finally clicking "Hang on –"the pack quieted and stared curiously at the brunet "You mean, Kakashi would make you guys take care of him? How is that even possible?"

Pakkun snorted "You'd be surprised"

"But-" Iruka's frown deepened "Cooking, and bandaging and well – not to insult you guys but don't you need-"

"Hands? Yes those would have been helpful"

The pack stared at Akino with shock. The somber, spiky haired dog never spoke to strangers; in fact he hated speaking period and often got annoyed at his louder, coarser family.

Iruka however only looked mildly amused "So, cooking? Medical?"

"We have to use our mouths of course"

"That sounds – difficult…" the tanned nose crinkled slightly in thought and the pack once again burst out laughing.

"Ruka?" All noise stopped however when a hoarse voice called out "Ruka? You home?"

Smiling Iruka hastily finished the tea then headed for the bedroom, Bull still stuck to his side and the other seven dogs trailing close behind.

Kakashi was struggling to sit up, the mask was off and the white hair messier than usual as the grey eye gazed around blurrily, trying in vain to find the younger man. Iruka chuckled softly at the sight and hurried to the Jounin's side, brushing an old tea cup away to replace it with the new steaming one.

"Here, how are you feeling?"

The question was asked quietly as Iruka moved a hand to the pale forehead, quickly taking the Jounin's temperature. "Mmm, well your fever seems to be gone and- GAH! KAKASHI!"

Kakashi simply chuckled as he pulled the Chuunin closer, having taken advantage of Iruka's position to grab him and pin the smaller man to the bed. Iruka huffed.

"Obviously you're feeling perfectly fine, should I tell Tsuande to put you back on active duty?"

"Ruukaaa" The copy nin whined in protest as he nuzzled his nose against the scarred cheek, gaining a small bubble of laughter from the Chuunin.

The dogs watched this scene with wide eyes. Trying to get over the fact Kakashi _their socially dysfunctional pup_ had just whined and openly cuddled another human being.

Of course that sort of thing was normal – for other people. Not Kakashi.

The Pack stared at each other for a long moment, unsure of how to react – when Bull fixed the problem for them.

With a happy bark the huge beast lumbered across the bedroom before throwing himself at the bed. Because of their positions Iruka saw him coming before Kakashi and rolled out of the way while Kakashi only turned over slightly in time to see the flying black mound heading his direction.

A shriek ranted through the air seconds before the dog landed, effectively cutting off all air flow to or from Kakashi's lungs and ending the scream with a sickening thud.

"Oh – Right. Kakashi your pack is here, they want to talk to you"

Iruka grinned over at the dogs who were once again laughing as they moved closer to the bed and jumped onto it. Grins grew wider when a pained moan came from Kakashi.

"Fuckit I'm _sick_ and you're trying to kill me? Freaking mutts" Kakashi groaned as Bull wiggled closer and started licking him, leaving long wet trails across the pale face.

"Us?" Uhei snorted "You do that fine by yourself, thank you very much"

"Ya! And you got a mate! Without telling us!"

"Bastard!"

Guruko and Bisuke were ganging up again and seemed to have decided they were changing loyalties as they marched straight over to Iruka and cuddled up to him, wet noses pressed into the Chuunin's side and neck in shows of puppy devotion.

Pakkun didn't blame them. Iruka was a better cook anyway.

Iruka simply laughed, petting both dogs as he watched the Jounin pushed his out from under the Black Mound that was Bull.

"They have a point ya know"

Eight furry head turned the sensei's way before the various tails started off on a wag, the pack sharing smug looks over the fact Iruka was siding with them. Kakashi pouted at the obvious betrayal.

"Picking on the sick guy, real nice"

The pout grew more pronounced when it didn't affect the current audience any. Instead the dogs looked bored and Iruka merely raised a brow.

"Ah, yes, that reminds me. They- " he gestured to the pack, who immediately got the queue to look dejected and abused "Told me you made them _cook_ for your sorry ass before it had the grace to pass out on my deck"

Snickers irrupted from different pack members at the sight of Kakashi guilty pout.

"But Ruukaa, they like cooking. _Don't you_"

The grey eye turned to the pack even as the copy nin's voice dropped menacingly on the last line. Clear warning they would say yes or else.

The dogs looked at each other again before simultaneously shaking their heads in a unanimous no.

Kakashi started sputtering in protest as Iruka burst into laughter beside him. The bright sound filled the room and soon the pack and Kakashi were all grinning as they watched the infectious scene.

When the laughter finally subsided to chuckles Iruka sighed and leant over, giving Kakashi a quick swat and kiss before jumping off the bed, Bisuke still wrapped in his arms – something the small dog seemed very smug about – as he head back to the kitchen.

"Kakashi, drink your tea. Now Bisuke – right? What should we make for lunch?"

Seven doggy eyes perked up at that word before the pack scrambled from the bed, paying no mind to the protesting Kakashi who growled at them as they trampled over him in their haste to follow Iruka.

Their master may be the most powerful idiot in the village but the pack knew a good mate when they smelt one.

…..

_I was going to write smut but this came into being. Rather proud of myself for finishing it in such a short time._

_Hope you liked it *blows kiss*_


End file.
